Morris Minor Owners Club

Just out of curiosity, does it make a big difference to the minor? I'd love to be able to maintain speed up hills.

I'm not sure how people drive in the UK, but when i had a 1275 in my minor it was pretty difficult to keep up with traffic. I live in California though where people are known to drive fast. It was pretty stock 1275. My dad has a heavily worked 1275 in his bugeye and it goes pretty good, easily stays up with traffic.

Depends where you live and the sort of drivers you encounter. It would struggle to keep up with the sort of driving I see by reps' on main roads on a Friday afternoon but it would cope cross country. It would also depend on your gearing. My 1275 simply flies up to 70mph and is especialy good at getting past slower vehicles on the Motorway but 70 really is the limit for comfortable (bearable) driving.
Remember also that your brakes and suspension have a bearing on how fast you can drive. Both mentally, insomuch as you know better brakes cope better at faster speeds and also they give you the confidence to mix it with the fast boys.

If you are interested in the hill climbing ability rather than high speed then dropping a 1275 in and keeping the 4.22 diff would give a useful improvement in both acceleration and hill climbing

I'd love to be able to maintain speed up hills.

Hi Luke yes a 1275cc engine in your car would give you a much improved torque for gettting up hills, a few years ago when I upgraded to a 1275 in a saloon it was then tested on quite a steep shortish hill which beforehand required 2nd gear to reach the top, but with the 1275 it was in third and still pulling and this was with the standard diff, so for the nice flat Welsh roads it would be ideal, also as mentioned a brake upgrade would also be useful.

The 1275 (first, and it turned out quite sickly) one didn't transform my minor. Had bucket loads more torque, and was noticably quicker to accelerate, but it wasn't a huge, huge change. But it did mean that you could sit on the motorway, just as noisily, but without hills making the big dent in your speed that they can in the standard minor. That was with a HIF44 carb and a bigger exhaust. With the standard carb / exhaust the poor thing felt like it was being strangled.

That new engine/carb/exhaust also hauled ass around the Lake District substantially more easily than the 1098. But the 1098 did do shockingly well**.

The 1275 (new shiny one from JLH with fast road cam) is substantially quicker, and I've had to become a lot lighter on the throttle. Axel tramp is quite noticable if you're a bit heavy with the pedal and it definately has quite a lot more go. 1st gear, while always short, is now a bit of a humourous joke.

Unfortunately, I'm still running with the standard gearbox (which is in the process of disintegrating) and so the top-speed's not changed at all. a new diff / gearbox combination would probably make the car a rather more civilised experience*

* Anyone got a spare 3.9 or 3.7 diff kicking around? I'd rather like one. Don't mind if it needs reconning - got lots of engineering shops around here...
** Until it exploded unceremoniously on the way home

* Anyone got a spare 3.9 or 3.7 diff kicking around? I'd rather like one. Don't mind if it needs reconning - got lots of engineering shops around here...

Yes a 3.9. Hums a bit but it's not intrusive. Diagnosis was a worn imput bearing and very slight pitting on crownwheel.
It certainly makes the gear ratios on a 1275 Minor much more useable.
Interested?

I'd love to be able to maintain speed up hills.

a 1275 on an original (1098) 4.22:1 diff should be much much better up hills (mine was).

Peetee wrote:

* Anyone got a spare 3.9 or 3.7 diff kicking around? I'd rather like one. Don't mind if it needs reconning - got lots of engineering shops around here...

Yes a 3.9. Hums a bit but it's not intrusive. Diagnosis was a worn imput bearing and very slight pitting on crownwheel.
It certainly makes the gear ratios on a 1275 Minor much more useable.
Interested?

dibs second if the offer is open (and to keep things balanced, pyoor kate, pm me if you need a 1098 gearbox ;) )

My '58 has a 1275 and a 3.9 diff. I love it. HUGE improvement on the 948 w/4:55!

my ute has a datsun a12 engine with 3.9 diff. that shoudl give very similar performance to a 1275 engine but i think it will have a much better top end due to better flowing cylinder head and bigger ports and a shorter stroke.

is somebody with a 1275 engine and 3.9 diff able to do a 0-60 test just to give me a rough performance figure?

Just realised I've never driven a standard 1098 Moggy

Mine is a 1275 with 4.55 diff, soon to be 3.7 diff though. Its very nippy up to about 50mph then it just gets noisy. The 3.7 should yield a big improvement

A 1275 with a 4.55 diff!
Do you ever use 1st gear?

Can set off in third!!